A pensioner who was conned out of £30,000 says he didn’t have a “greed for gold” - but just wanted to pay for his wife’s care.

Cameron Laird, 77, was persuaded by Nabeel Adris to hand over the money as an “investment opportunity” after he was given the devastating news that his wife Audrey had developed Alzheimer’s.

But as gambling addict Adris pulled him deeper into his lies, fleecing up to £10,000 more from him, Mr Laird couldn’t even afford to eat.

Adris, 32, has been jailed for two years and nine months after a court heard he left Laird unable to pay for his wife’s funeral.

Speaking after the court hearing, he said: “I loved my wife to the true meaning of the word love. I would have done anything to give her the best care while I still had her.

“I was just going to sell my house to pay for her care.

“But he convinced me to take a loan and give him the money to invest, and I did it for her care.

“It wasn’t a greed for gold.”

Mr Laird said Adris had spun a web of lies - claiming his mother had cancer, and that his father had fled to Italy - and even claimed that he couldn’t hand over any money because it had been delivered in Irish bank notes.

“I just want people to know what he’s like,” continued Mr Laird.

“I don’t think this prison sentence will stop him. He could sell snow to the Eskimos.

“I’m not going to say what I think of him, as you probably couldn’t print it.”